In Defense Of Blasphemy
President Obama addressed the United Nations today and promoted a muddled, naive approach to the international turmoil over Islamic violence. Instead of defending American free speech – even provocative, hateful and controversial free speech – to the world, he demanded that we all stop insulting religion.
Which meshes nicely, unfortunately, with a ban on insults to Islam being called for by several leaders of Muslim nations:
As the U.N. General Assembly convenes this week in New York, several leaders of mostly Muslim nations are suggesting that the world body consider sanctions on blasphemy, amid widespread protests against an amateur movie that denigrates Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he will focus at least part of his remarks on the film when he addresses the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday.
“I am the prime minister of a nation, of which most are Muslims, that has declared anti-Semitism a crime against humanity. But the West hasn’t recognized Islamophobia as a crime against humanity. It has encouraged it,” Mr. Erdogan told reporters last week.
Turkey heads the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, a body of 57 nations, which has long pushed for a U.N. resolution condemning the “defamation of religion.”
This is nothing new. For thousands of years dissenters against the dominant religion in a society have been persecuted. Christians and Jews were persecuted by the Romans. Christians and Jews persecuted one another. Witches and heretics were tortured and murdered. Scientists were imprisoned, and worse, when their theories and findings didn’t mesh with doctrine.
Sad as it is, this is all about as old as humanity. What is relatively new is this idea that free practice of all religions should be allowed, with the price of that freedom being tolerance for dissenters to your particular flavor of religion.
Which is the exact opposite of what these Muslim countries and, frankly, President Obama are calling for. The Muslims want to turn dissenters against their religion into civil rights violators when, in truth, that sort of assault on religious dissent is the real civil rights issue.
The left used to understand that. Or, at least, they understand and support the concept when it’s Christianity in the cross hairs.
Tags: free religion, free speech, islam, muslims
